


to find that special day

by winnehield



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, My Unit | Byleth Twins, Two Byleths, sothis is here too i love her, theyre both named byleth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-08-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25782712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winnehield/pseuds/winnehield
Summary: It really isn’t that big of a deal. All they have to do is go in, tell Mom and Dad the news (and By and Sothis, if they’re there), and then either eat dinner or go home. But Byleth’s never been good at delivering news of any kind, much less big, life-changing things like this.
Relationships: Linhardt von Hevring/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 5
Kudos: 53





	to find that special day

**Author's Note:**

> this is very self indulgent and im sorry. i dropped literally everything to write this and i fell asleep twice while doing it. if there are random, out of place words please let me know and i will delete it. anyways this was fun if not exhausting.

Byleth stands outside the door to his childhood home, anxiety slowly welling up within him. It looks the same as it always does- with the flowers out front in their planter boxes, and Dad’s old motorcycle peeking out from behind Mom’s truck. Even Mom’s stolen birdhouse is still up, freshly painted despite birds utterly refusing to touch it. The familiarity of it all relaxes him, if only a little bit. 

Linhardt, from besides him, squeezes his arm lovingly. “Are you alright, Byleth?” 

His attention is immediately drawn to the pretty, shiny ring that sits on Lin’s finger. Given to him a whole five days ago, Linhardt’s been showing it off every chance he gets. Or, at least, Byleth thinks he might be. It could also have something to do with the way Byleth has been completely unable to look away from the ring every one of those five days. 

There’s just something exhilarating about it. It’s an engagement ring. They’re engaged. Byleth asked Linhardt to marry him, and he said yes. They have matching rings, because Linhardt had  _ also _ been planning to propose to him. Easily one of the most exciting days of his life, although…

Another squeeze to his arm. Linhardt nuzzles against his shoulder. “Byleth, dear… You know it’s not that big of a deal.” 

His heart flutters at the pet name, and despite the nervousness swirling inside of him he smiles at Linhardt. “I know,” he says, because he  _ does _ know. It really isn’t that big of a deal. All they have to do is go in, tell Mom and Dad the news (and By and Sothis, if they’re there), and then either eat dinner or go home. But Byleth’s never been good at delivering news of any kind, much less big, life-changing things like this. “I just don’t know how to tell them.” 

“Well, we walk inside the house, for starters.” Lin kisses his cheek. He’s very affectionate today, Byleth notes, and some part of him wonders if it’s Linhardt’s own way of calming him down. It works, obviously, because Byleth relaxes in Linhardt’s grip and receives a smile for it. “Your sister is staring at us. She looks like she’s plotting our untimely deaths.” 

_ Oh. Is she?  _ Byleth turns towards the house, and learns that  _ yes,  _ she is. By (short for Byleth) stands in the window, watching them with the same face she used to give him before she’d whack him with a pillow as kids- something smug and knowing and a little too menacing for his liking. He clenches his fist on instinct, and then finds himself un-clenching as he feels the cool metal of his own ring against his hand. He doesn’t want to get into any fights with her. What if he ruins the ring? 

“We should go inside. Mom’s expecting us,” Byleth says, resigning himself to his fate. He’s good at dodging, but she’s even better at aiming. His hair will almost certainly be ruined by the end of tonight. Out of habit, he reaches up and runs his fingers across the plain white ribbon in his hair. Lin tied it back himself. It’s a very comforting thing to remember. 

Linhardt is already a step ahead of him, walking up and opening the front door with a lazy smile. “Hello, Mother,” he calls out, apparently having already set his sights on the kitchen. 

Byleth follows behind him, gripping his hand tightly. He has to (violently) swerve to the right to dodge By coming in to ruffle his hair- something he really, really hates- and ducks into the kitchen just before she tries again. 

Mom beams at Linhardt, currently in the process of setting down a tray of teacups on the table. “Lin, Byleth,” she says, hurrying back to the cupboards. “You two should’ve called! I would’ve prepared more cake. I don’t think I made  _ nearly _ enough for all of us. First By drops by, and now you two.” 

A hand swipes at his hair, successfully messing it up and ruffling it out of place. Byleth, wounded, cries out and (unsuccessfully) tries to smack away his attacker. 

Linhardt, however, perks up immediately at the mention of dessert. He pays no mind to his fiance and the struggles Byleth is currently going through, and instead eyes down the cake on the table hungrily. “Oh? What kind of cake? Is it the peach one you made last time?” 

Mom shakes her head. “No. This one is a milk cake recipe I found online. It has… A lot of milk in it. I guess that’s why it’s called a milk cake. I made the frosting with less milk to make up for it, though Jeralt says it ‘doesn’t work that way.’ I’d be inclined to believe him, but  _ I _ think it tastes fine,” she rambles, and then proceeds to continue rambling to Linhardt about the inner workings of her cake. 

Byleth tunes her out not by choice, but because of By choosing to pull him downwards so that she can dig her hand into his hair to cause more destruction to what little hair Byleth has to mess up. Really, it’s not his fault he cut it too short to tie back properly. 

He watches in horror as his ribbon falls to the ground. To some extent, he isn’t surprised. It had been tied in pretty badly. Despite all his practice on Lin, Byleth is still pretty bad at doing hair, and he hadn’t really tied it  _ into _ anything so much as just looped it around part of his hair. Still. He’s a little upset. That ribbon had been worn for the sole purpose of matching Linhardt today. He reaches down to grab it and-

“Holy shit.” By reaches down and yanks his hand up so she can see it better. “A ring? You’re engaged now?” 

The word  _ engaged  _ catches Mom’s attention immediately. She pauses whatever she had been saying to Linhardt, and whips around to stare at Byleth and his sister. His engagement ring shines innocently in the kitchen lighting. 

“Holy shit,” Mom echoes. “A ring. You’re engaged now.” She then turns back to Linhardt and grabs his hand, lifting it up to see his own ring. “Oh my god. You proposed and you never told us?” 

Linhardt, who had been trying to steal a strawberry slice off the cake, blinks in surprise. Then he frowns. “Well, no. It wasn’t really a planned one. At least, not on my end. Oh, you should’ve seen him,” Linhardt says, voice teasing. He smiles at Byleth directly, eyes twinkling with mischief. “He stumbled over nearly every word and-” 

“I did not,” interjects Byleth. “And you were nearly just as bad as I was.”

Linhardt grins despite the way his cheeks have turned the lightest shade of pink. “You tripped and dropped and broke an entire bottle of wine.” 

Byleth can feel his own face heating up. He thought they agreed to not talk about the wine. “You- You started crying. A lot.” 

“So did you,” Lin argues, not even bothering to deny it. And Byleth knows he’s right. They had both wound up a teary, giddy mess on their kitchen floor, a broken bottle of wine slowly seeping into the ground not even ten steps away from them. Some of it had gotten into Lin’s favorite shirt, and now the tips of the sleeves are permanently stained a faint red. 

Mom looks ecstatic. She claps her hands and moves towards the cupboard. “This is amazing. I can’t wait to tell your father about this! Come, now. Some tea and cake to celebrate?” 

By is still examining his ring. She looks at Byleth’s ring, and then at Linhardt’s ring, and then back at Byleth’s. Then she grins, her own show of approval. “I’m surprised you both got such similar rings,” she says. “You know I started a bet with Dad about who’d propose?” 

“Huh? You and Dad are betting on my  _ marriage?” _ Byleth isn’t surprised, just… No, he’s surprised. So is Linhardt, if his little, indignated gasp is any indicator. 

She nods. What a supportive big sister he has. 

“.... Did you bet on me?” Byleth is genuinely curious. 

By shrugs. “Nope. I thought it would have been Lin.”

“You were right,” Linhardt confirms. He’s looking at Byleth’s hand from across the room. “I proposed first. Isn’t his ring nice? I didn’t know his ring size, so I just used mine.” 

Mom laughs. She brings out two extra teacups, and begins pouring tea for them all. “By, be nice. Your brother’s getting married. We should celebrate- No, actually. Let’s wait for your father to return. He’s out buying dinner.” 

“Why dinner?” Byleth feels lost. “Isn’t Dad going to cook?” He had chosen today specifically because he thought Dad would be cooking dinner today. Saturdays are the days Dad likes to go all out for dinner, and if Dad isn’t cooking…

“I tried to help and burned the beef,” By says, as though this hasn’t happened a hundred times before. “Dad went out to buy something. He never really said what he was buying for us, just that he was going out to get us dinner.” 

Mom nods sagely, probably thinking the same thing Byleth is. “I wasn’t going to waste more food on By’s arson attempts. This house has enough destruction in it already. I…” She trails off for a second, and then gasps as her phone buzzes. “Oh! By, Jeralt’s here. Help him carry everything inside.” 

“Dad does  _ not _ need help,” By says, a token argument. She’s already moving out of the kitchen anyways. Byleth is fairly sure she’s just going to start eating the food before it makes it to the table. 

Byleth takes the grand effort of nudging his way through the kitchen to stand behind Linhardt’s chair at the end of the table. He rests his chin on top of Lin’s head, running his hand through pretty green hair. It’s soft and smooth against his fingers, and he can feel Linhardt relax against him. 

“We’ll have to tell Father and Sothis when they arrive,” Lin says thoughtfully, more so to Byleth than anyone else. He reaches for a teacup and begins adding sugar to it. “You can handle that, yes?” 

“I… Yeah,” Byleth sighs. He mulls over the past ten minutes, and then sighs again. “This wasn’t how I wanted to let them know.” 

Lin laughs. It’s a very sweet, very endearing little laugh. He takes hold of Byleth’s hand and kisses him right above his ring. “I can’t imagine what went wrong. How will you ever recover?” 

He’s not really sure, honestly. His proposal to Lin had been nothing short of a mess. First he had nearly lost the ring, and then the wine bottle broke, and then Linhardt threw him completely off track by _also_ proposing to him. It still feels unreal, even a few days after it all happened. 

Not even telling his parents went the way he had wanted. He figures it’s about normal for his family though- Mom and Dad seem to have the same problem, if their stories are anything to go by- so it’s probably nothing to worry about. There’s bigger fish to fry, anyways. They have a whole wedding to plan now, and Byleth’s never even been to a wedding before. 

“I don’t know how to plan a wedding.” 

Mom enters the room, cackling. She sets down a handful of forks and knives. “Of course you don’t. You’ve never been married.” 

Linhardt snickers from behind his tea. Byleth just groans. “Thanks, Mom.” He receives a kiss to the forehead for his troubles. Lin gets one as well. 

“Anything for my favorite sons,” she says without missing a beat. It never fails to amaze Byleth how quickly Linhardt was accepted into the family. 

From underneath him, Linhardt coughs as if he had choked on his tea. Byleth has seen this act often enough to know the truth. Lin’s embarrassed and he wants to cover it up. Which sucks, really, because Linhardt is unbelievably cute when he’s flustered. Not that he isn’t normally cute, mind you. Very cute and very handsome, despite everything Lin does that might imply otherwise. Like the drooling while he sleeps. A little gross, but extremely funny and charming. Really, Byleth thinks that Lin might just be the best person on Earth. 

_ God. Byleth’s going to marry him.  _

He smiles at the thought. It’s not like he can help it. Lin makes him happy. So does the knowledge that they’re going to get married, even though they’re already practically married anyways. They share a house and a bed and their food, and now they share matching ribbons  _ and _ matching rings. He’s not sure anything could ever make him happier, and the wedding is still nowhere in sight. Byleth is positive he’s going to be inconsolable on their wedding day. 

The front door opens, and Dad’s voice reaches them before anything else. By follows him in, carrying three convenience store meals. That’s not nearly enough for the three of them, and Byleth has to wonder what the plan was supposed to be. 

Dad’s eyes go wide upon seeing the two of them cuddling at the table. He grins, setting down a bag of his own on the table. A bottle of some kind rolls out of it innocently. “Hah! You guys should’ve told me you were dropping by. I would’ve bought a couple more for the two of you.” 

“Hello, Father,” Linhardt greets amicably. He’s probably staring down one of the soda bottles. “What did you buy?” 

Byleth notices what Linhardt’s staring down. The single bottle of melon soda, at the bottom of the bag. He can’t blame him. “Hello Dad,” Byleth echoes. Would it be rude to ask for the melon soda? It wasn’t like it was bought for him, considering they hadn’t the foresight to warn anyone about them coming over, but.. 

Right. They came here to tell Mom and Dad about the wedding. Melon soda is irrelevant. 

Dad is already moving to the teacups Byleth has, quite honestly, completely forgotten about. He takes a sip, makes a weird face, and then takes another sip. Tea isn’t his favorite. Byleth is surprised he’s drinking it at all. 

“Dad,” Byleth says, right at the same time Linhardt goes “Father.”

“Yeah? What’s up, kid?” Dad doesn’t seem to question much of anything these days. He regards them with a quick glance as he helps himself to a second cup of tea. Mom bristles with excitement from behind him, while By digs into one of the boxed dinners, watching the exchange happen like free entertainment. 

“I… We have something to tell you.” Byleth braces himself. For  _ what _ , exactly, he isn’t sure. Dad won’t be anything but excited for him, and he knows it. There’s just some silly, irrational side of him that demands he be prepared for the worst. He wishes he had Linhardt’s bravery sometimes. 

The door slams open before Byleth can get anything else out. A new, sixth person enters the house with a shout of “Hello, dearest Mother! I come bearing gifts!” 

Linhardt grumbles something under his breath. Sothis is here, and she always manages to tire Linhardt out. She comes into the kitchen with a crepe in each hand, a thick topping of whipped cream and sliced fruit so high up Byleth fears it’ll topple over. Stopping in the doorway, Sothis frowns. 

“What did I walk into?” Sothis glances around the room. She eyes the cake, the now cooled cups of tea, and the mess made of the boxed lunches. Then, like everyone else’s, apparently, her eyes zero in on Byleth and Linhardt. “Did… Are those wedding rings? Did you two elope without telling us?” 

Dad chokes on his second cup of tea. By laughs- either at Dad choking or Byleth’s misfortune- while Mom giggles to herself as she pats Dad on the back. “You  _ what,”  _ croaks Dad. 

Byleth sighs. He was a fool for thinking this would be quick. And they’re probably not going to get much food out of it, either. Pulling away from Linhardt, Byleth takes the opportunity to press a quick kiss to the crown of Lin’s head. He’s going to have to explain himself all over again. He just knows it. 

Linhardt smiles at Dad and Sothis. “Yes, we eloped,” he lies, like a liar. Dad’s eyes nearly pop out of his head. 

Sothis leans forwards so far she almost falls flat onto the table It's a wonder she doesn't drop either crepe. “Do keep talking. I want every detail.” 

“We did not elope,” Byleth says, because it’s the truth and he, unlike  _ someone,  _ is not a liar. Then he sighs, dreading all the talking he’s going to have to do, and begins to explain to the rest of his family his engagement to the love of his life. 


End file.
